I feel better now

I hardly ever get depressed, and when I do it's only for about a week and then I snap out of it. A week before Christmas I was feeling down till I saw a TV commercial for something called a Snuggee.

It's a blanket that you can wear. At the start of the ad there's a woman on the couch under a blanket- the phone rings. What's she gonna do? Her hands are under the blanket.

The Snuggee commercial takes normal-looking people, adults and children, and makes them look like creepy cult members in bright bold primary color Druid robes.

The commercial shows that everyone loves a blanket with arm-holes. There's an old man in his chair at home in a Snuggee. There's a family at a sporting event clapping their hands in Snuggees. There's a convict in his cell in a Snuggee.

If I could go back in time there's only one thing I would change: I'd find a way to be in this commercial in a Snuggee. People would stop me on the street and I'd say, "Yep, that's me".

2009 in 3-D

2009 is going to be a huge year for 3-D. First, on January 16, there's the release of the My Bloody Valentine remake. Then, just 18 days later, Friday the 13th Part III will finally be out on DVD in three dimensions.

As far as Ft13 III, I've been waiting for years; I remember coming across an online petition asking Paramount to put the 3-D version on DVD. Very soon the dream will be coming true. I've seen the flat Part III on HBO but the only 3-D movie I've ever seen in the theatres is Jaws 3-D, which was awesome. They've gotta get that out on DVD soon.

I don't remember if I saw the original My Bloody Valentine on HBO or if my dad rented from the video store up the street. I liked it a lot though- I'm gonna rent it after Christmas, maybe New Years Eve.

I get a feeling the decision was made to make the remake in 3-D because, otherwise, there wasn't much of a demand for a MBV remake. Most 19 year-olds have probably never heard of the original. It doesn't matter to me though- I'll be there on opening night.

50 Foot Wave "Power+Light"

50 Foot Wave Power+Light

Thursday night 50 Foot Wave introduced their new record Power+Light on the website Cash Music. It's an great collection of songs (especially the first two) clocking in around 25 mins.

You can hear Power+Light at http://50footwave.cashmusic.org/

Also, for the past year, Kristin Hersh has been releasing a track a month from her forthcoming album Speedbath, for free, at Cash Music. It's funny- generally a new song would be posted towards the end of each month, and if KH was a couple days late posting that month's song the fans on the forum would start posting- in a polite way- 'Where the fuck is this month's song; it should've been up 13 hours ago'. I'm no exception.

Some of the songs I could take or leave, but the good ones are beyond belief and they'll be stuck in your head for days and weeks and months. You should check them all out but if you're on a tight schedule download "Speedbath", "Morning Birds", "Fortune", and "Slippershell".

You can find the newest song, plus links to the other downloads here:
http://kristinhersh.cashmusic.org/

Belly postcards

The two 7" singles from Belly's album Star each came with two postcards.

The doll and the chair came with "Gepetto" and the other two came with "Feed The Tree".

I bought the "Gepetto" record years ago at a store called Main Street Records. I mailed the green skin/ black-haired doll postcard to my friend Angela when she went away to college, but I saved my favorite- the chair- and I've still got it.

The chair is one of my all-time favorite Chris Gorman photographs; I love the way the colors shift.

Now that I think of it, there might actually be six postcards in the series. I think on the white & black side where it had the "Belly" logo in the top left corner it said "1 in a series of 6", which means I'm gonna have to track down the other two.

The Breeders "Divine Hammer"

"Divine Hammer" was one of my favorites when I got Last Splash for Christmas in 1993. While I still like "Cannonball" better, "Divine Hammer" has the better artwork.

"Body of Evidence"

Body of Evidence (1993)

"Can you really screw someone to death?"

That's the question that Body of Evidence asks, and the question that Frank Dulaney's (Willem Dafoe) 10 year-old son asks him when Dulaney takes on the defense of Rebecca Carlson (Madonna), who is accused of killing her elderly boyfriend.

I saw this movie 15 years ago when it came out, and again the other night; it was much better than I remembered.

For one thing, it's a really attractive movie- I'm thinking of the car ride in the rain where red and yellow lights are flashing on Madonna and Dafoe. And in nearly every scene there's either a pretty background or a striking view out the window.

Joe Mantagna played the prosecutor and even though he did a fine job, I was a little disappointed as I was expecting a little Joey Zasa but it never happened.

Also in a supporting role was Julianne Moore as Frank's wife Sharon. I just found out a while back that she played the best friend in Hand That Rocks the Cradle so I really wanna watch that again. I loved her in that ("What is this? A parade?"). She doesn't have much to do here, but she does have a quick scene with Madonna in the courthouse ladies room towards the end of the trial.

"Wish me luck?", Madonna says, and Julianna Moore slaps her like she called her 'lady' and asked what was wrong that she needed all those prescriptions.

I was watching the movie and thinking Willem Dafoe must be on the short side because I read that Madonna's really tiny- 3'7" or something- and he's just a little taller than her. But he's very likeable; he looks like evil death but he's actually earnest goodness and he should open his own charm school.

The problem with this movie is that it could've been so much better. It's not that it's too serious; it just would've been better if it was more of a comedy. I don't mean campy or some kind of parody of Basic Instinct. I just think they should've thrown in more good jokes- like when Madonna replies to the police that she's never done cocaine in Oregon- and less Law & Order-type wisecracks.

Anyway, Body of Evidence: good movie.

Get it while you can

To keep myself in the habit of blogging on a regular basis, I'm going to be straying for the next week, straying from the usual format and focus of this blog, RJ Battles, and I, RJ Battles, will be giving you, Faithful Reader, a glimpse into my everyday life.

But eventually these personal posts will be deleted by me when I clean house and streamline this site. So read while you can.

It was a bit of an uneasy sleep last night. At 4am I got under the blankets and, hugging one of my pillows, fell asleep. Two hours later, rested and ready to start the day, I pulled the blankets over my head and slept till quarter to 10.

It was then that I got up and started getting ready for my noon shift. I was more fun and easygoing than usual- I think it's after effects from the three Somas I took Tuesday.

After I got out of my second job I visited with some friends. My plan is that the next time we get to spend a night together we should play a game (I don't know what it's called)- someone says, say, "Julia Roberts", and then the first person says Pretty Woman, the second person says Ocean's Eleven, then I say Steel Magnolias, and so on till someone either can't think of a movie she starred in or names a movie she wasn't in, and that person drinks.

So after seeing my friends I walked to the store for two $2 scratch tickets (won $5 on one), but, more importantly, found 11 cents on the ground. My salsa jar where I keep my found money has nearly $3 in it. I love adding money. The highlight of my day is unscrewing the cap and dropping a penny in. Is the highlight of your day reading about it?